1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an embellishment for medical structures and more particularly relates to the embellishment of medical structures using a shrink-film material to decorate a medical structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
When people are injured, they frequently require the aid of medical structures that help them deal with daily life. For example, some people use wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, and the like to improve mobility and stability. In another example, medical professionals have treated injured bones, joints, and surrounded soft tissue with orthopedic casts made in part of plaster based structural materials and more recent fiberglass based structural materials that harden to thereby substantially immobilize and support the injured area. Typically, medical professionals apply casts to limbs and torsos. Depending on the injury and injury treatment, the use of a medical structure can take a period of a few weeks to a lifetime.
In practice, when the medical structure is a cast, medical professionals apply a padding covering the injured area before applying the structural material. The padding is usually white in color and traditionally the structural material is white in color, but occasionally has a pigment in one of a few other select colors.
Because casts are temporary and are often replaced during the period of treatment, patients and their friends, relatives, and other individuals often decorate the cast with any number of drawings, sketches, slogans, hieroglyphics, phrases, comments, poetry, symbols, and the like. Children are particularly interested in decorating their casts and parents usually encourage this interest in that it creates an activity that is fun for them and may partly distract them from otherwise often traumatic issues associated with treatment. Psychologically, the decorations can become a badge of honor.
In the application of designs to the cast, individuals apply decorations directly to the cast's structural material using felt-pens, ballpoint pens, brushes, or other similar marking means that use ink, paint, or pencil lead. Once applied, the decorations are permanent and remain until cast removal. Sometimes these decorations are or become inappropriate. At other times, the decoration become marred as the cast becomes soiled. Sometimes the soiling of the cast and any inappropriate decorations may prevent people from keeping desired decorations on the cast as a memento.
Sometimes, the injury is more permanent and the patient will have to use a medical structure for a substantial portion of one's life. These medical structures, like wheelchairs, walkers, canes, and the like, come in standard colors and designs that fail to show the personality of the user. As the patient may use the medical structure for the rest of one's life, the patient may desire to augment the appearance of the medical structure.